How do you find a guide / teacher?

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faB, modified 7 Years ago at 4/4/16 11:08 AM
Created 7 Years ago at 4/4/16 10:59 AM

How do you find a guide / teacher?

Posts: 34 Join Date: 6/10/11 Recent Posts
Hi guys

I feel like I've reached a point in my search where I'm stuck, and meeting someone would be very helpful.

I'd like to straight up meet someone for an hour or so, or skype them, and just being able to talk about this.

But how do you find a teacher, or a guide?

If you know anyone in Belgium or Brussels I could meet, please let me know (here or PM?)


One avenue I've thought about is to look into the Buddhist centers and maybe there is some teacher there I could talk to.. Thing is I've questioned many of my assumptions, including about the meditation practices, attainments and so on... so I don't know if that's a good place for me to start... Anyone have experiences with that? I feel like I just need someone to talk to at this point. To acknowledge whatever experiences I've had and how meaningful they are, and find out where I'm stuck. This is more of a personal question .. that I don't feel like I could ask in the middle of a satsang.
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Noah, modified 7 Years ago at 4/4/16 12:24 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 4/4/16 12:24 PM

RE: How do you find a guide / teacher?

Posts: 1467 Join Date: 7/6/13 Recent Posts
Here some thoughts from my experience:

-Don't lead with attainments!!  This will cause people to shut down.  Instead, talk in general, appreciative terms about how meditation has been transformative for you.

-Don't eliminate technical terms entirely, but use less of them than what we use on here.

-Show up at a sitting group for at least a four or five times before you starting asking for one-on-one's/dokusans/satsangs, etc.  Some Rinzai Zen groups will offer this from the start.  

-Consider a purely online teacher.  There are about five of them that are connected to the "pragmatic dharma" movement, and many more on top of that.
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faB, modified 7 Years ago at 4/4/16 5:42 PM
Created 7 Years ago at 4/4/16 5:42 PM

RE: How do you find a guide / teacher?

Posts: 34 Join Date: 6/10/11 Recent Posts
Hey thanks! Your post gave me some ideas. Didn't even think about joining a local sitting group. Why not. I never tried the Zen ones.